HOUGHTON, Mich. - Sophomore Bennett Royer and freshman Brett
Olson each scored to lead the Michigan Tech hockey team to a 2-1
victory over rival Northern Michigan tonight (Dec. 19). With the
win, the Huskies improve to 3-14-2 overall and the Wildcats fall to
3-11-3.
"That was one of the uglier games we played," said head coach Jamie
Russell who tied Al Renfrew for fourth in school history with 58
wins. "I'll be honest. A lot of the games we played against
Northern Michigan, we really outplayed them and came out on the
short end of the stick. We were fortunate tonight, but it feels
pretty good to have a win."
Royer stole the puck in the Wildcat zone and fired a back handed
shot past junior Brian Stewart at 2:44 of the first period. He was
unassisted on his first goal of the season.
NMU tied the game at 1-1 less than two minutes into the second
period when sophomore Mike Maltese fired a shot near the blue line
for his first goal of the season. He was assisted by freshman
Justin Florek and senior Derek May.
Sophomore Jordan Baker collected a loose puck near center ice and
was tripped as he fired a shot on net that was blocked by Stewart.
Olson then scored the game-winning goal on the rebound at 6:30 of
the second period.
The Wildcats finished with a 37-22 advantage in shots. Tech was 0-3
on the power play and Northern was 0-5.
Josh Robinson (2-4-1) made 36 saves on 37 shots in the win and
Stewart made 20 saves.
The two teams will square off in Marquette for the final time this
season tomorrow (Dec. 20).
